Today's estate sale bargains

Daylily 'Custard Candy'. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

 If you know me at all or have read this blog much, you know I'm a bargain hunter (see my series of posts on frugal gardening for evidence). I find some of my best non-plant bargains at garage and estate sales--pots and other containers, garden tools, garden art, and other odds and ends that make this gardener's heart happy. Every now and then, I score plants that way too, usually pathetic-looking ones well on their way to that great garden in the sky. As you also know if you read this blog at all, winter is not my favorite time of year. I've probably spent about a third of my posts complaining about the cold, complaining about the snow, and complaining that I can't garden because of the cold or the snow. Time to add another complaint: there are almost no garage sales in Flagstaff in the winter. Today, though, it seemed like garage sale season might be starting. I found three--count 'em, three!--estate sales, and one had a big ol' pile of pots and other gardening paraphernalia. $10 later, my pickup bed was full. Among the various containers, bags of soil, moss, and other stuff, I found several boxes of bulbs and bare-root plants. I figured they were from last spring and probably DOA, but I took them, since they were part of my $10 pile.

When I got them home, I discovered that they are from 2016, or so the mailing label on the box said. So they're pretty much a lost cause, right? Might as well pitch them onto the compost heap and move on with my life, right? Sorry, but that makes too much sense. Instead, I spent the last hour planting every one of them that wasn't completely crispy. And it's raining, so I slogged around in the rain to do this. Yes, I am insane.

Here's the haul:

Daylilies

• Dragon's Eye
• Mildred Mitchell
• Custard Candy (the one pictured above)

Roselilies (Note: I'd never heard of roselilies before. Turns out they are double-flowered, pollen-free Oriental lilies, and they are gorgeous. See this article from Greenhouse Product News for more info.)

• Natalia
• Carolina
• Elena

Hardy gladiolus (I didn't know about these either. I've mostly avoided planting glads in Flagstaff, because I'd have to dig them up every winter, and our gale-force winds would blow them over five minutes after they started blooming. Hardy glads are shorter with smaller flowers (a better choice when you live in a wind tunnel) and are hardy to zone 5 with winter mulch. Missouri Botanical Garden has a page about them.)

• Nathalie
• Elvira
• Impressive
• Halley
• Atom
• Mirella

I'll report back in about June on whether any of these actually grew. Even if they don't, I got some exercise and discovered some bulbs I'd never heard of. Not too bad for a rainy winter day.

Winter finally put in an appearance

After being AWOL since last year, winter finally showed up in the form of a few inches of soft, powdery snow. The last morning in February was the kind of snowy morning I love: still, peaceful, not too cold, with snow falling softly and transforming the sad, scraggly winter garden into a wonderland. Too bad I had to go to work. I did take a few minutes to snap some pictures, since the way this year is going, this could be our only real snowfall. I'm glad I got those pics, because the snow was mostly gone by the time I got home that afternoon, the snow was mostly gone. Beauty is so often transitory, especially in a garden.

Near the front door:








Front side yard:











The pond! Part of my motivation for building a pond was the thought of seeing it surrounded by snow. And here it is:







Looking toward the potager:



This post is backdated, because as usual I didn't get around to posting the pictures in a timely manner. It's now March 9, the snow is gone, and the temp today is supposed to be pushing 60. What lovely gardening weather! Too bad I have to work.